Films: I can’t stop thinking about Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. It is perfect; not one wasted scene. The story he tells, the actors he employed, sets and wardrobe, its twists and turns. Mmmmmmm…
Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine has lost her la la life in New York City, where her husband (Alec Baldwin) ran a money fund. He’s dead, she’s penniless; starting over, she heads to San Francisco, where she barges into her sister’s not so la la life. This film is — as the best comedies ought to be — both funny and sad. Bring a hankie.
Another film I loved, and caught on pay-per-view: Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. There’s so much energy in this movie, a train gaining speed until its final wreck. Hollywood teenagers invade stars’ homes; unlike typical burglars, these kids lounge around, try on clothes, gasp over shoe and jewel collections, then stuff designer bags with star loot. Running from these homes, bouncing their bags: they look like Halloween trick or treaters. A true story that offers a priceless window into youth, and the pull of celebrity.
Food: Friends — thank you! — treated me to dinner at Sofi Restaurant in Chicago’s Printer’s Row neighborhood (616 S. Dearborn Street). It’s a Milanese trattoria, warmly furnished. Every dish we ordered — mostly salads and pastas — was delicious, expertly prepared and presented. Professional service. (Don’t miss the Torta della Nonna for dessert.) sofirestaurantandbar.com/
Fourteen foodies gathered for an engagement dinner at Chez Moi, a French bistro in Lincoln Park (2100 N. Halsted.) Perfection all around, though some complained about the noise. Hmm…it’s a lively restaurant on Saturday night. Excellent service, divine wines, well portioned dishes. My favorites: duck rillettes, tarte aux lardons, bouillabaisse, gateau Breton salidou. A flawless meal. www.chezmoichicago.com/‎
Reads: David Sedaris on loss and family. Lovely. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/10/28/131028fa_fact_sedaris
Weird and wonderful, a story from David Gilbert. http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2013/07/22/130722fi_fiction_gilbert)
Books: I liked Gilbert’s & Sons, a sprawling novel set in present-day Manhattan. A story of sons and fathers, fame and its price. Also, bullying. Its narrator is the least likable; everyone else I fell for — hard. Andy, the teen namesake, is in hot, hilarious pursuit of his father’s publicist. Richard, an L.A. screenwriter, is forever entangled and tripped up by his father’s renown. Jamie, a documentarian typically on the other side of the world, is lured back to the East Coast to record his prep school sweetheart’s dying days, at her request.
This book is hard to get into — a dreary funeral scene is its start — but after that, hang on to your seat. It’s a wild ride. The best fiction I’ve read all year.
I also liked a memoir, Michael Hainey’s After Visiting Friends: A Son’s Story. Hainey is a GQ editor; he’s a velvety writer, smart and smooth. The truth he uncovers — about the night of his father’s death — is ugly. But Hainey keeps us in this marvelous world, Chicago in the late 1960’s and on. We come to know his “don’t look back” mother, loving immigrant grandmother, brother and extended family — some of whom know more than they’ll say, at first. Also his father’s colleagues, newsmen who “don’t recall.†Solid reporting, beautifully told.
Finally, Ben Dolnick’s At the Bottom of Everything, a novel. Two precocious teenage boys cause a fatal accident; neither tells his parents or the police. They graduate from a prestigious D.C. prep school, they head to Columbia and Penn.
Thomas breaks down, drops out of school, makes his way to India. Adam finishes school and tries to live his life as though “the incident†can be ignored. Ha! Adam follows Thomas to India, and it is there that this story finds its humor, rhythm and forward motion.
Adam is the story’s narrator. His observations about overnight travel, Third World congestion, hipsters who choose to live on the verge of poverty: funny. Together and apart in India the two seek forgiveness, solace, enlightenment. Each travels to a cave, where they come together during a near death experience. (Convincingly told.)
Do these young men change? Thankfully, no: not much. Like an unshakeable cloak, the dead girl and her grieving parents will forever haunt them.